Thursday, September 17, 2009

One of these september days we made an outing to the old fortress Kalnik placed on the stone hill Vuklenec what is a part of the hill Kalnik.It's no far from my town,only a half hour by the car.

The first written sighn of the Old town of Kalnik dates back to the 1243,when king Bela IV mentioned its role in the battle against Tartars.The town,built on a steep cliff and sorrounded with defensive walls,was invicible for its attackers.Many rulers and noblemen held it as their property over centuries.

The walled town of Veliki Kalnik is a complex of buildings made in various stylistic periods.Its lower part,from the east,still shows the remains of St.Chaterine's Chapel.The very fortress was abandoned from the middle of 17th century.Conservation works and clearing of the site were carried out in 1963,and during 2004,a permanent afore planned research and preservation of newly discovered walls continued.

Stairs to the highest tower..

..and the wiev from there on the lower parts of fortress..

The local population are called "Plum noblemen" or small landed gentry according to the legend about the town defenders: during Tartarian siege the dwellers fed king Bela IV with plums,thus enabling him to survive and scare the enemy away.To show his gratitude the king made them noble.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Acryl on canvas with sand from Saharun bay,80 cm x 100 cm..painted on the commission,it had to be the horse..my wish was to paint that horse on more abstract way but it had to be more real..orderers were pleased but I'm not happy with the result :(

I was absent from here last ten days spending my summer holidays with my family and friends..we had also the greatest summer happening that is already a tradition last few years here: the Špancirfest in Varaždin,the "festival of street wanderers".This is a great festive with lot of happenings that all are performed on old streets and squares of Varaždin,one of most baroque cityes in Europe.Old handicrafts,musicinas,dancers,clowns,etno-groups,painters and all kinds of performers from all parts of the world were living here on the streets and squares from the 21th to the 30th August.Ladyes and gentlemans in clothes from past times were walking through the streets that were full of tourists from all Europe.We have also two great concerts this year,the concert of the world known Macedonian musician Kiril Dzajkovski and the famous old US band Creedence Clearwater Revived..It is hard to say what of hundreds performances was the best one..all were really funny and entertaining but I was in some way most enthusiastic with the simple performance of this pair of young people:the boy was singing and playing the great music fom '80 on his guitar and the girl was making miracles with glass balls..And you can see hundreds of beautiful and funny photos from Špancirfes here:Špancirfest on Ptičica.

Monday, August 10, 2009

And although I'm not a real fan,have to say that yesterday and today evening in our capital city Zagreb runs the greatest musical event this year in this part of Europe-two concerts of great Irish band U2 on their "360* Tour".My nephew Ema was there on the yesterday evening concert and she was raptured with the great performance.Bono Vox in Zagreb yesterday evening..